Jason grew up in the Chicago suburbs and has been a Chicago sports fan since watching John Paxson hit the game-winning 3-pointer in the 1993 NBA Finals. He has written about the NBA for SB Nation, FanSided and FanRag Sports. He is a contributor to BetChicago with a Chicago Bulls/NBA focus.

Just over a year ago, Indiana Pacers star Victor Oladipo crumpled to the floor with a torn quadriceps tendon in his right knee. Wednesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Oladipo makes his much-anticipated return to the court when the Pacers take on the Chicago Bulls.
Oladipo's injury derailed Indiana's 2018-19 campaign. With him sidelined, the Pacers went 16-19 after a 32-15 start to finish 48-34, and they were promptly swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.
With Oladipo out for several months to start this 2019-20 season and a whole lot of roster turnover, I was skeptical of Indiana's ability to hit the OVER on the 47.5 win total [oddsmakers were dealing](https://www.betchicago.com/indiana-pacers-2019-season-betting-preview) before training camp.
Yet here we are 47 games into the season, and the Pacers are just two wins off last season's pace when Oladipo went down. They're 30-17 and on pace to win 52 games, holding the No. 6 seed in the process but only three games behind the second-seeded Toronto Raptors. Indiana has done this despite big offseason acquisition Malcolm Brogdon missing 14 games, Jeremy Lamb missing 11 games and Myles Turner missing nine games.
When healthy, Brogdon has been playing at close to an All-Star level, while Domantas Sabonis is a good bet to make his first All-Star Game thanks to his averages of 18.1 points, 12.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists. T.J. Warren's 18.2 points per game leads a balanced Pacers scoring attack that has seven players averaging double figures.
While Nate McMillan's club isn't elite on either end of the court, they're just plain solid, and the hope is Oladipo's return will ultimately lift them to greater heights. It's going to take some time, though, and we shouldn't expect everything to click right away. Roles will change, and Oladipo will need to get his legs back under him. Patience is required.
Oladipo will return on a minutes restriction and will likely come off the bench initially:
<a href="https://twitter.com/ScottAgness/status/1222247981228924928" class="embedly-card" data-card-width="100%" data-card-controls="1">Embedded content: https://twitter.com/ScottAgness/status/1222247981228924928</a>
That minutes restriction is expected to remain until the All-Star break, when the Pacers will see where Oladipo is at. As McMillan says, [there will be an adjustment period](https://twitter.com/ScottAgness/status/1222248621636247552).
Indiana is a 9-point favorite against a 19-30 Bulls team missing Lauri Markkanen, Wendell Carter Jr. and Otto Porter Jr., though Chicago enters on a two-game winning streak and winners of six of 10. Of course, the Bulls have done their damage against bad teams, as they're just 1-18 against teams with a record above .500. That includes a pair of losses by double digits to the Pacers, who were missing key players in both prior matchups.
Indiana is 17-5 and 11-8-3 against the spread at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, while Chicago is 8-15 SU on the road but a respectable 12-10-1 ATS. The Pacers are a hefty -500 on the moneyline to win the game outright, and this is a pretty big number to cover, even considering the results of the first two matchups and the return of Oladipo.
It is worth noting that this is the Pacers' first game at home since the tragic death of Kobe Bryant, so it will be an emotional night in Indiana as the tributes for the late Lakers legend continue around the NBA. The Pacers did play on Sunday in the immediate aftermath of Kobe's passing, while the Bulls beat the San Antonio Spurs on Monday in Chicago.
__Also read__: [Kobe's best Bulls-related moments](https://www.betchicago.com/kobe-bryant-chicago-bulls-history)
Looking forward, Indiana is listed at 100/1 odds at the Westgate SuperBook to win the NBA Finals (tied for the 12th-shortest odds) and 30/1 to win the Eastern Conference (sixth shortest). Even if Oladipo returns to full strength this season, an NBA title almost certainly isn't in the cards. Winning the East already looks hard enough given the Milwaukee Bucks' dominance and the other quality teams at the top of the conference.
However, something like a Giannis Antetokounmpo injury would level the playing field in a big way and open up the East. Nobody wants to see that happen, but you never know what may transpire.
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